Introduction to Political Science - Dr. Tom Theuns
Theory and Methods in Political Science
Monday 19 Dec, 09.00: Exam
Class 1: Course introduction: What is Political Science?
● Political science doesn’t tell you how it is, it gives you the instruments to find your
own perspective on the matters.
Origins (not exhaustive)
➢ The study of Politics starts in Western Europe with Theology.
➢ Ancient Greeks
○ Plato - Political thought/philosophy
○ Aristotle - Systematic empirical observation
➢ Renaissance/Enlightenment/Scientific Revolution
○ Machiavelli, Voltaire, Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes
➔ Normative: What ought to be
➔ Empirical: What is (observed)
Modern-day political science (not exhaustive)
Research areas emerged along with real-world developments…
➢ Comparative politics: Creation of states
➢ International politics: Interactions between states
➢ Transnational politics: Movement across state borders
➢ Beyond U.S. and Europe: Globalization
➢ Study of citizens: Process and waves of democratization
…but also scientific developments in other disciplines.
Disciplinary influences (not exhaustive)
➢ Theoretical approaches: Philosophy, Law, History, Anthropology, Sociology,
Psychology, (Micro)Economics.
➢ Normative political theory, Behaviouralism, Rational choice, (Neo-)Institutionalism,
Constructivism, Marxism, Feminism.
➢ Political science: The study of one aspect of human behavior/life from different
theoretical perspectives.
➢ Political science is more akin to criminology than, say, sociology, because it is
focused on a particular kind of activity.
,➢ There is not one theoretical approach that completely dominates the field
(‘Celebration of diversity’).
,Class 2: Normative Political Theory
● Normative theory is different from empirical theory of political science
○ Normative: concerned with terms of value, philosophy
○ Empirical: Series of assumptions shaping research into the empirical view of
the world, with the purpose being helping us better understand the facts of the
social and political world as it exists.
○ A normative theory is supposed to help us navigate a different set, sort of
questions, one that arent centrally about the nature of the soc and pol world
and facts within, but questions of how politics and society should be arranged
and organized, and in what ways the current organization might be sufficient
in the subjects of values (justice, legitimacy, etc.). geared to help us navigate
questions of value in politics (picturing a way towards a utopian way of
politics, and critiquing current ways of politics.
Political Theory
➢ You can have an empirical theories (realism: power interactions between states)
➢ But if we’re asking more about the nature of power itself, its essentially a
philosophical question, and we enter the roam of political theory
Core themes in political theory
➢ Power
➢ Legitimacy
➢ Authority
➢ Justice
➢ Equality
➢ Rights
➢ Ideology
○ These can be asked from an empirical perspective, but when treated in terms
of applied acts (what policy is more efficient, these questions are more about
political theory)
The fact/value distinction
➢ The first step to understanding the difference between normative and empirical, is
understanding the difference between fact and value.
➢ A traditional view is that facts and values can be cleanly separated
➢ Facts: concerns ‘what is’
○ Empirical claims be correct or incorrect, wrong or right
○ “Mark Rutte is the prime minister of The Netherlands.”
, ➢ Values: concern ‘what should be’
○ “My daughter should be the prime minister of The Netherlands.”
○ “My daughter would be a better prime minister of The Netherlands.”
■ So we have an idea of what better is, and how to measure that.
Normative and empirical claims
➢ Empirical statements are claims about what factually is. For example:
○ It is sunny outside
○ This can be wrong or right, or inconclusive (if you claim you had bread for
breakfast, I won’t know if it is true or false.)
➢ Normative statements communicate value judgements. For example:
○ We should go and sit in the garden (Prescriptive: what to do or what not to do,
based on some kind of value judgment)
○ French toast is delicious (Evaluative: gives some kind of value judgment on
french toast)
Normative arguments
➢ Each argument with a normative conclusion (X) must have at least one (implicit or
explicit) normative premise/claim(Y).
➢ Example:
○ Torture is always wrong. (debating something on the ground of value =
normative claim).
○ Waterboarding is a form of torture.
○ The CIA waterboarded Al Qaeda suspects in 2002 = an empirical claim, over
which we have a normative (value) claim, so it’s inescapably tied into
questions about value.
○ What the CIA did was morally reprehensible. = a normative conclusion.
Normative claims and moral claims
➢ All moral claims are normative claims (can be clear opposites based on morality)
○ Torture is always wrong.
➢ Not all normative claims are moral claims
○ We should sit in the garden
○ French toast is delicious
➢ Are the following merely normative claims (A), or are they also moral claims (B)?
○ Opera is better than ballet: A.
○ Your grandfather is ill-tempered: B
■ If we judge the grandfather on the basis of value, we’re making a
moral claim.
○ That donkey is ill-tempered: A
Theory and Methods in Political Science
Monday 19 Dec, 09.00: Exam
Class 1: Course introduction: What is Political Science?
● Political science doesn’t tell you how it is, it gives you the instruments to find your
own perspective on the matters.
Origins (not exhaustive)
➢ The study of Politics starts in Western Europe with Theology.
➢ Ancient Greeks
○ Plato - Political thought/philosophy
○ Aristotle - Systematic empirical observation
➢ Renaissance/Enlightenment/Scientific Revolution
○ Machiavelli, Voltaire, Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes
➔ Normative: What ought to be
➔ Empirical: What is (observed)
Modern-day political science (not exhaustive)
Research areas emerged along with real-world developments…
➢ Comparative politics: Creation of states
➢ International politics: Interactions between states
➢ Transnational politics: Movement across state borders
➢ Beyond U.S. and Europe: Globalization
➢ Study of citizens: Process and waves of democratization
…but also scientific developments in other disciplines.
Disciplinary influences (not exhaustive)
➢ Theoretical approaches: Philosophy, Law, History, Anthropology, Sociology,
Psychology, (Micro)Economics.
➢ Normative political theory, Behaviouralism, Rational choice, (Neo-)Institutionalism,
Constructivism, Marxism, Feminism.
➢ Political science: The study of one aspect of human behavior/life from different
theoretical perspectives.
➢ Political science is more akin to criminology than, say, sociology, because it is
focused on a particular kind of activity.
,➢ There is not one theoretical approach that completely dominates the field
(‘Celebration of diversity’).
,Class 2: Normative Political Theory
● Normative theory is different from empirical theory of political science
○ Normative: concerned with terms of value, philosophy
○ Empirical: Series of assumptions shaping research into the empirical view of
the world, with the purpose being helping us better understand the facts of the
social and political world as it exists.
○ A normative theory is supposed to help us navigate a different set, sort of
questions, one that arent centrally about the nature of the soc and pol world
and facts within, but questions of how politics and society should be arranged
and organized, and in what ways the current organization might be sufficient
in the subjects of values (justice, legitimacy, etc.). geared to help us navigate
questions of value in politics (picturing a way towards a utopian way of
politics, and critiquing current ways of politics.
Political Theory
➢ You can have an empirical theories (realism: power interactions between states)
➢ But if we’re asking more about the nature of power itself, its essentially a
philosophical question, and we enter the roam of political theory
Core themes in political theory
➢ Power
➢ Legitimacy
➢ Authority
➢ Justice
➢ Equality
➢ Rights
➢ Ideology
○ These can be asked from an empirical perspective, but when treated in terms
of applied acts (what policy is more efficient, these questions are more about
political theory)
The fact/value distinction
➢ The first step to understanding the difference between normative and empirical, is
understanding the difference between fact and value.
➢ A traditional view is that facts and values can be cleanly separated
➢ Facts: concerns ‘what is’
○ Empirical claims be correct or incorrect, wrong or right
○ “Mark Rutte is the prime minister of The Netherlands.”
, ➢ Values: concern ‘what should be’
○ “My daughter should be the prime minister of The Netherlands.”
○ “My daughter would be a better prime minister of The Netherlands.”
■ So we have an idea of what better is, and how to measure that.
Normative and empirical claims
➢ Empirical statements are claims about what factually is. For example:
○ It is sunny outside
○ This can be wrong or right, or inconclusive (if you claim you had bread for
breakfast, I won’t know if it is true or false.)
➢ Normative statements communicate value judgements. For example:
○ We should go and sit in the garden (Prescriptive: what to do or what not to do,
based on some kind of value judgment)
○ French toast is delicious (Evaluative: gives some kind of value judgment on
french toast)
Normative arguments
➢ Each argument with a normative conclusion (X) must have at least one (implicit or
explicit) normative premise/claim(Y).
➢ Example:
○ Torture is always wrong. (debating something on the ground of value =
normative claim).
○ Waterboarding is a form of torture.
○ The CIA waterboarded Al Qaeda suspects in 2002 = an empirical claim, over
which we have a normative (value) claim, so it’s inescapably tied into
questions about value.
○ What the CIA did was morally reprehensible. = a normative conclusion.
Normative claims and moral claims
➢ All moral claims are normative claims (can be clear opposites based on morality)
○ Torture is always wrong.
➢ Not all normative claims are moral claims
○ We should sit in the garden
○ French toast is delicious
➢ Are the following merely normative claims (A), or are they also moral claims (B)?
○ Opera is better than ballet: A.
○ Your grandfather is ill-tempered: B
■ If we judge the grandfather on the basis of value, we’re making a
moral claim.
○ That donkey is ill-tempered: A
